Shelves of Ash | Book Blog

Rating: 5/5

Hello reader friends! Here’s an update for you on how the 2017 BookTube-A-Thon went! I had originally set out to read all 7 books that I had picked out the day before the event started, however, I was only able to read 4 and half books. I know, kind of disappointing, BUT it was fun and I loved that everyday there was a different giveaway or reading challenge on all BookTube-A-Thon social medias (Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube were the ones that I followed), but didn’t have enough time to participate in any of them due to my work schedule. Overall, it was a terrific experience and I think next year I’m going to set a realistic goal for myself, probably stick with 4 books and try to do some of the other various challenges. Okay, enough about that, let’s get on with my Heartless Review!

THOUGHTS…

Alrighty, let me just start by saying that this book was my absolute favorite that I read so far in my TBR pile, actually it quickly became my favorite since the time I read the A Court of Thorns and Roses series (that series was lovely and other than Harry Potter, it is my all time favorite). Anyways, I had SUCH a fun time reading Heartless and everything about it was wonderful. I will be giving away PLENTY of SPOILERS, because I can’t help myself this book was too good to stay vague and I just want to shout out everything I adored about this novel. If you would rather take my word for it and go grab a copy RIGHT NOW, then I suggest reading this review afterwards or stay and see what my opinions are and then read the book anyways to come up with your own!

• “PRAISE”: Marissa Meyer is known for her Lunar Chronicles series, which is a series consisted of 4 books and 2 novellas that are companions to the series. Personally, I have only read the first installment, Cinder, and I started on the second installment, Scarlet, however I haven’t finished it yet. After reading Heartless, I just want to read all of Meyer’s books, so soon enough I will be restarting the Lunar Chronicles. As you may have noticed, I gave Heartless FIVE stars which I haven’t yet gave on any of my reviews thus far. In my opinion, it’s that good. I’m pretty picky when it comes to books that I thoroughly enjoy and I can probably count on one hand which are my favorites out of 23 years of reading books. Her writing style is so captivating and the way the story is completely her own, yet it’s based off of a character that SO MANY people know, I think she gave the Queen of Hearts a FABULOUS story. Although the story is unlike anything I’ve ever heard concerning The Queen of Heart’s life and how she becomes so villainous, all through the book, the reader finds themselves in the whimsical world of Wonderland to be very familiar and at the same time, given a fresh perspective.
• “OKAY WHAT”: So throughout the story, I had a strong sense of who the Jabberwock was, my first instant thought was Peter Peter’s wife, who was described as such: “The wife Mary Ann had mentioned was a slip of a girl, almost invisible beside the massive bulk of her husband. She had a back that seemed permanently hunched – from work, not age, Cath could guess – parchment-white skin and stringy blonde hair. She looked ill . . .” (Chapter 5). Though in the book the Jabberwock attack in the castle took place after she was described, there was something more to Peter Peter’s wife than meets the eye, she wasn’t a main character or even side character at all, so for Meyer to go through with describing her and every once in a while bring her into the story line made me question and it turned out, I was right. And even though I thought it quite obvious and saw it coming, it never took away from the story. What I was NOT expecting was to have my heart ripped from my chest and my eyes flood over like waterfalls when Meyer kills off Jest, Catherine’s love interest. Catherine and Jest go through stumbling into each other (quite literally), to going on adventures to try to save Jest’s world which was located on the other side of the Looking Glass. In order to save Jest’s world (known as Chess), Catherine would have to become a Queen of Hearts, but throughout the novel, she is struggling internally with wanting to help Jest and opening up her own bakery (her passion was baking even though her parents wanted her to be royal and woo the king into becoming a queen of their Kingdom of Hearts).

A LOT of things go down in the world that Marissa Meyer has added onto so creatively. The main character, Catherine is being pulled in all different directions. She wants to please her parents, she wants to follow her own dreams, she wants love and is afraid she won’t be able to keep it, she tries to change the future, but in the end when Jest, the love of her life, dies (beheaded by Peter Peter), she loses herself completely and is set on revenge. She becomes a shell of herself and offers up her heart, carving it from her own chest in order to bargain with it to find Peter Peter (who runs off after murdering Jest) and when he is found, she utters the last words in the novel, “Off with his head.”

***

Overall, I immensely LOVED this re-telling of the Queen of Hearts. Marissa Meyer made a novel that I never knew I wanted to read about, until I did. I know for a fact that I will be rereading Heartless more than once a year, it’s just one of those stories that  tugs at your heartstrings and gives you a different perspective on why villains in stories become the way that they are.

Stay true to your heart, readers! Do what makes you happy, life is too damn short.

– Ash

P.S. My next review will be on the novel by Julia Walton called Words on Bathroom Walls which isn’t a book I’d typically read, so keep your eyes open for my review to see what I thought of it. Was I pleasantly surprised or unsurpsingly disappointed? You’ll have to read my next review to find out!